[1] See also H. Whartoni Anglia Sacra, t. i. p. 125.
[2] He was abbot of Eynsham. See Biogr. Brit. Lit. p. 482, _n._ ++
[3] Among his sources he mentions Smaragdus and Haymo: of these the former
was abbot of St. Mihiel, a monastery in the diocese of Verdun, in the
eighth century. He wrote commentaries on the Scriptures, Sermons, etc.
Haymo was bishop of Halberstadt, about the middle of the ninth century: he
compiled, from the works of the fathers, commentaries on almost every part
of the Scriptures. There was also a Haymo of Canterbury, who wrote
commentaries on the Pentateuch, Isaiah, etc., of whom see Biogr. Britan.
Lit. vol. i. p. 510. The other sources mentioned by Aelfric are too well
known to need further notice.
[4] It is right to observe, that in the MS. the texts taken from the
Gospels are frequently of very great length; these I have ventured to
abridge, presuming that all readers of the Homilies have a copy of the N.
T. either in Anglo-Saxon or English.
[5] Aelfrici Abbatis Grammatica Latino-Saxonica, cum Glossario suo ejusdem
generis. Folio. Oxon. 1659. That the author of the Grammar, the compiler of
the Homilies and the translator of the Heptateuch was the same individual,
is evident from the prefaces to those works.
[6] Published at the expense of the Historical Society of Science, in a
volume entitled 'Popular Treatises on Science written during the Middle
Ages,' edited by Thomas Wright, Esq., M.A., F.S.A., etc. etc. 8vo. 1841.
That this work is by our Aelfric is evident from his own words immediately
following his last homily: Her aefter fyligdh ['a]n lytel cwyde be
gearlicum tidum, thaet nis to spelle geteald, ac elles to raedenne tham dhe
hit licadh.--_Hereafter follows a little discourse concerning yearly tides,
which is not reckoned as a sermon, but is else to be read by those whom it
pleases._ MS. Cantab. p. 492.
[7] Heptateuchus, Liber Job, et Evangelium Nicodemi; Anglo-Saxonice.
Historiae Judith Fragmentum; Dano-Saxonice. Edidit, etc. Edwardus Thwaites.
Oxon. 8vo. 1699.
[8] A Saxon Treatise concerning the Old and New Testament, written about
the time of king Edgar by Aelfricus Abbas, etc., by William L'Isle of
Wilburgham, Esquier for the King's bodie, etc. 4to. Lond. 1623.
[9] An edition of the Anglo-Saxon text of this work, with a translation by
W. E. Buckley, Esq., Fellow of Brasenose Coll. and Prof. of A.-S. in the
Univ. of Oxf., is announced for early publication by the Aelfric Society.
The ealdorman Aethelweard, son of Aethelmaer, mentioned in the preface to
the Homilies and other works of Aelfric, is without doubt the chronicler of
that name, concerning whom see Literary Introd. to Lappenberg's 'History of
England under the Anglo-Saxon Kings,' p. xlv.
[10] According to the Oxford MS. of this Colloquium, it was originally
composed by Aelfric (of Canterbury or York?) and enlarged by his pupil
Aelfric Bata. It is printed in the 'Analecta Anglo-Saxonica.' For more
ample information concerning the Aelfrics the reader is referred to Mr.
Wright's interesting and useful publication, 'Biographia Britannica
Literaria; Anglo-Saxon Period,' edited for the Royal Society of Literature.
[11] The three last-mentioned works are printed, with a translation, in the
'Ancient Laws and Institutes of England.' It appears from a note at the end
of Matthew in the C.C.C.C. MS. of the Saxon Gospels, that an Aelfric was
either the translator or copier of the Gospel of St. Matthew, if not of the
four Gospels. See Notes to my edition of the Anglo-Saxon Gospels.
[12] Elfrici Homiliae, edit. El. Elstob. (fol. Oxon. 1715.) Of this first
attempt only thirty-six pages were printed. Her second attempt was under
the title, "The English-Saxon Homilies of Aelfric, Archb. of Cant., who
flourished in the latter end of the tenth century and the beginning of the
eleventh. Being a course of Sermons collected out of the writings of the
ancient Latin Fathers, containing the Doctrines, etc. of the Church of
England before the Norman Conquest, etc. etc. Now first printed, and
translated into the language of the present times by Eliz. Elstob. fol.
Oxon. 1715." Of this only two leaves were printed. A copy of both is in the
Brit. Mus. See Biogr. Brit. Lit. p. 493. Mrs. Elstob also published
Aelfric's Homily on the birth-day of St. Gregory, with a translation. 8vo.
1709. Reprinted with some account of Mrs. Elstob in 1839.
[13] De Gestis Pontificum Anglorum, lib. iii.
[14] Fl. Wigorn. Chron. ad a. 1040.
[15] Ad ann. 1046.
[16] R. Wendover, t. i. p. 478.
[17] The handwriting, though very nearly alike, is not the same in the two
parts of the MS.; they also occasionally differ in orthography,
'middangeard,' for instance, in the first part being in the second
constantly written 'middaneard.'
[18] MS. Reg. 7. c. xii.
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